EastEnders actors Jamie Borthwick and Emma Barton ran the London Marathon in character yesterday as part of a brain tumour storyline on the soap.
Last year the BBC One show said goodbye to Lola Pearce-Brown, played by Danielle Harold, in heart-wrenching scenes as she died following her diagnosis with a glioblastoma multiforme.
On Sunday, in a clip played on BBC One, the actors; Borthwick, 29, who plays Lola's husband Jay Brown; and Barton, 46, who portrays Honey Mitchell, said their characters would run the marathon in honour of Lola.
Borthwick said: "Over the last 18 months, we have seen a storyline where my wife Lola had developed a brain tumour.
"We just really tried to make it as real as we could and our lovely boss dropped the idea to us that maybe our characters would run the marathon."
Barton added: "I think it’s a really clever idea that EastEnders have done to show what a lot of the people all over the country are doing... raising money for their charities or in memory of a loved one.
"As Honey and Jay are going to be running the London Marathon, we are going to be filmed live on the London Marathon day, which will then go into Monday April 22’s show at 7.30pm. This has never been done before in soap history," she said.
Asked in the clip if they were ready for their EastEnders scene, Barton said: "We just have to treat it like any other scene of EastEnders, professionally, we’re gonna get it done and then we can relax for the last half."
Last year the long-running BBC soap dominated the Inside Soap Awards, taking home six gongs out of a possible 15. Harold took home best actress for her performance as Lola; Borthwick was awarded best actor; while Max Bowden (Ben Mitchell) secured soap superstar of 2023.
More than 50,000 people ran the 26.2-mile course yesterday, including several other well-known faces.
The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett, 38, ran the course on behalf of a children's hospice while dressed in the Piranha costume from the show, estimated to weigh 8kg.
Other famous faces taking part included comedian and TV presenter Romesh Ranganathan, who was running for a suicide prevention charity and actress Ruth Wilson who was running for Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Musician Tom Grennan, comedians Ivo Graham and Rosie Jones, DJ Chris Evans and McFly drummer Harry Judd also took part.
Source: Press Association
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